An “assisted-opening” knife refers to a type of folding knife that uses a spring to deploy the blade upon application of manual pressure to the blade. Typically, the spring of an assisted opening knife is situated such that when the blade is in a closed position, the spring applies a closing force to the blade to retain it in the closed position. To open the blade, the user applies enough pressure to a thumb stud on the side of the blade to pivot the blade about 30 degrees from the closed position, after which the spring begins to apply an opening force to deploy the blade without further manual pressure. A drawback of the conventional assisted-opening knife is that it is sometimes difficult to open without inadvertently applying a significant amount of force to the blade in a lateral direction (perpendicular to the plane in which the blade pivots) via the thumb stud. The lateral force on the blade increases drag on the blade and reduces the speed with which it can be opened.